Reading With Tonks
by M'rika
Summary: The Marauders stay over at Andy and Ted's after a night out, and Remus gets dragged into reading with a certain little girl, despite only having had, oooh, half an hours sleep. Onehsot. Some slash.


An: TangerineFields asked for a fic where Remus taught Tonks to read, and this is what happened. Enjoy

Reading With Tonks

Staying over at Andromeda and Ted's was a ridiculous idea. It was up there with trying to fly by jumping off a building and trying to walk on water. It really should never have happened. But for some reason, Andy had been in a particularly good mood (James had made some comments about Ted swinging it for them with his bedroom skills, at which Sirius had stuck his fingers in his ears and sung God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs very loudly, even though it was only August), and had said yes. Whether she was regretting it when they'd come in at half four that morning, it was difficult to say.

The reason they'd wanted to stayed was because Andy and Ted happened to live on the same side of town as the best clubs, and the marauders had given up trying to apparate drunk, after Peter had apparated to Trafalgar Square without realising and had sent a patronus to them which simply said _Help! Lions!_

So, there they were. James and Sirius were sprawled across the single bed in the guest room, snoring to high heaven, while Peter had managed to commandeer the double airbed that Andy had thoughtfully provided. At six thirty in the morning, Remus had accomplished approximately half an hour of sleep, which, between Peter's tendency to kick, Sirius' snoring and James random outbursts of 'it wasn't me', he felt was quite good. But now he was sat in the kitchen, nursing a coffee, wondering where Andy kept the painkillers.

"Remus!"

_Ah, fuck. _Remus liked Dora, he did, really. But at a stupid time in the morning with his hangover kicking in, he wasn't sure he could cope with a small child's demands.

"Will you read to me?" She asked, holding up a tattered copy of _The Silver Chair_. "Mommy said it was too early."

He managed a smile, despite the throbbing in his head. "It is kind of early-"

"But you're up," she said, walking further into the room. She was in her pyjamas still; they had the remains of a transfer, but it had obviously been through the wash too many times, and he had no idea what the picture had originally been of.

"Why don't you read to me?" he suggested wanly.

She shrugged. "Will you help me?" She looked up at him with a fair approximation of Sirius' patented puppy dog eyes, and Remus couldn't help but agree.

"Come here then." She padded across to him, and he pulled her onto his lap, thanking Merlin that he'd actually bothered with pyjamas. "What're we reading?"  
>"Silver Chair," she informed him. "There's Jill and Eustace and Pu'leglum" She leafed clumsily through the pages until she found the bookmark that proclaimed 'reading is fun!' She stabbed the page with her finger. "S'here."<p>

And that was where Sirius found them an hour later; Remus following under the words with his finger, while Dora read out the words, sounding them out when she didn't recognise them, and checking her pronunciation with him.

"Bit domestic isn't it?" Sirius asked, leaning on the door-frame, pulling his pyjama bottoms up slightly, though they slid down again to rest loosely on his hips.

"Sirius!" Dora's eyes lit up, and she jumped off Remus' lap to go and wrap her arms around her almost cousin's legs, her hair changing to an excellent copy of his. It was a common look whenever she saw Sirius, as if the love that she had for him couldn't be contained within her heart, but had to spill out into her appearance.

Sirius grinned and ruffled her hair. "If you go and jump on Prongs to wake him up, I'll give you a galleon," he promised, laughing as she ran off, the thump thump thump as she all but flew up the stairs echoing into the kitchen.

Remus ran a hand through his hair. "Any idea where Andromeda keeps the painkillers?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting that Dora gave you a headache?"  
>"No," Remus told him with a scowl. "I'm suggesting that the last three shots gave me a headache and that your cousin aggravated it."<p>

"Don't frown Moons," Sirius cooed mockingly, ruffling his friend's hair as he crossed to the fridge. "Teaching's a worthwhile profession. I can see you now," he held up his hands as if taking a picture, "youngest professor at Hogwarts ever. With all the sixth years hitting on you."

Remus laughed despite the throbbing in his head. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," Sirius nodded furiously. "Except," he murmured, leaving the fridge, "I got there first." He planted a kiss on Remus, who messily pulled him closer.

It was only when a small voice asked, "What're you doing?" that they sheepishly remembered that they most definitely weren't in their flat.


End file.
